Poll: four out of five drivers support new cycle lanes in London

A new poll suggests that as many as four out of five drivers support new cycle lanes in London.

The survey, carried out by online repairs provider Servicing Stop, asked nearly 1,500 drivers whether reducing road space to allow for more bike lanes was a good idea.

A third said that narrowing roads to make way for cycle lanes makes them safer.

Only 20 per cent disagreed with building more cycle lanes in London.

And 7 per cent of drivers said cutting road space to make way for new cycle lanes was “completely unnecessary”, according to a report in the Evening Standard.
On the other hand, 13 per cent said new segregated lanes lead to too much congestion, although, 71 per cent said that sharing the roads with cyclists in places where there are no segregated lanes did ‘not bother them at all’.

It’s an interesting conclusion given the outrage from taxi drivers in the capital at the plans for more segregated cycle infrastructure.

Last year we reported how the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) was accused of acting duplicitously by protesting against every major protected cycle route proposed in London, after saying they don’t oppose them.

The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) told road.cc the LTDA was putting its drivers’ convenience over the safety of cyclists and pedestrians by attempting to block cycle and pedestrian improvements designed to protect people from motor traffic, while making “ludicrous” claims about cycle routes.

In October taxi drivers in LTDA-liveried vehicles joined a local residents’ protest against a North London cycle superhighway, CS11, while the LTDA's campaign against a protected cycle route on Tavistock Place in Central London is ongoing. The LTDA said it wants a "better balance" on those routes and the LCC was "misrepresenting the LTDA position" on CS11 and Tavistock Place.

After an unpromising start, having to be bribed by her parents to learn to ride without stabilisers, Sarah became rather keener on cycling in her university years, and was eventually persuaded to upgrade to proper road cycling by the prospect of a shiny red Italian bike, which she promptly destroyed by trapping a pair of knickers in the rear derailleur. Sarah writes about about cycling every weekend on road.cc.